Those of us who grew up in a pre-Internet world probably remember passing through grocery store checkout aisles lined with copies of the National Enquirer and other tabloids, with outrageous headlines proclaiming “BAT CHILD FOUND IN CAVE,” “HILLARY CLINTON ADOPTS ALIEN BABY,” or “DOLPHIN GROWS HUMAN ARMS.” Even as children, it was easy to distinguish those fake stories from real news, not just because of the sensational claims but also because of the telltale fonts and the obviously manipulated or fabricated images. Looking back, the division between fake news and authentic journalism seemed quite clear.

In today’s world, however, the line between real and fake seems increasingly blurred and uncertain. False stories are no longer relegated to tabloid publications but instead have infiltrated more mainstream media sources and social networking services. While the ludicrous claims of tabloid fare were meant mostly to entertain, today’s fake news is a more insidious specimen; in many cases, there is a sinister intent to its creation and dissemination. Indeed, the dictionary.com definition of fake news reads: “false news stories, often of a sensational nature, created to be widely shared online for the purpose of generating ad revenue via web traffic or discrediting a public figure, political movement, company, etc” [emphasis added].

"KQED Teach offers a collection of free, hands-on professional learning opportunities focused on Digital Media. Educators can build skills in digital storytelling, data visualization, and critical media use to support all curriculum areas. These skills allow teachers to facilitate learning environments where their students can create digital content, develop their communications and technology skills, and engage in deeper learning that encourages critical thinking."

While conducting research for my recent graduate thesis to complete my Master's degree in Educational Technology from New Jersey City University, I uncovered the fact that the maker movement, a seemingly modern creation, actually has its roots traced back thousands of years ago. Confucius and Aristotle were both proponents of learning by doing. Socrates provided a model of learning that is still relevant in the digital age by emphasizing the process of learning through questioning, inquiry and critical thinking. The learning theories first advanced by these early philosophers are aligned with the modern maker movement.

Creation of pop-up makerspaces has allowed for this idea of project-based learning to grow and blossom. Using higher-order thinking skills, students are given the opportunity to problem-solve, ask questions, think, create, innovate, fix and revise. A new set of learning theories have popped up as well. Innovation and design theory have become a way of learning, with entrepreneurship at the helm. Preparing our students for the work in the 21st century, where the ability to figure out solutions and think outside the box is fostered, will be the key to success.

Your student activists are going to love WalkWoke.The iPhone app allows for the creative of impactful political posters to print, publish or share with meme-style ease.The app was launched in January by Tangelo, a venture studio and an innovation lab with a diverse team–built and founded by immigrant women.

Apart from reading great literature, some educators struggle to come up with new ways to make English class engaging. Edtech has a lot to offer teachers who want to foster a deep love of language in their students. One of the most affordable pieces of edtech, Amazon’s Alexa, can be a simple way for students to engage in reading and writing at a deeper level. Most students love the silly games and interesting stories that are available to captivate their attention on this playful device.

If you have been trying to figure to how to use Alexa to make English class more engaging, here are five of the top programs your students will enjoy.

Running a lemonade stand may be the most entrepreneurial project that many students get to experience. But increasingly, schools leaders want to take the spirit of these old-fashioned projects and create more—and more meaningful—opportunities for students and teachers alike to think creatively and build skills that will prepare them for future careers.

In districts like Boston Public Schools, officials have set up new teams devoted to rethink everything from professional development and instructional design to class schedules and school culture. These efforts are often lumped into one overused term: “innovation.” (But what does it really mean?)

We recently sat down with Sujata Bhatt, managing partner of innovation at Boston Public Schools, to learn more about what exactly a district innovation job entails, and what it takes to get people to not only adopt an innovator's mindset, but to execute on new ideas.

If you just started working out you may be tempted to push your body to the limits. The problem isn't how hard your training. It's that you're still partaking in unhealthy habits, like poor diet and not getting enough sleep, as well as not giving yourself enough recovery time.

Like any other muscle in your body, the same can be said about our brains.

As an entrepreneur, I work my tails off for 10, 12, or more hours every day. Then I come home and do some additional work. I then respond to to email and social messages on my smartphone or tablet right before bed. I'm not over-worked right?

Next I watch the news or an episode of my favorite show. I get a couple of hours of sleep, rinse, and repeat.

This is what living is like in the information age. In fact, we now receive five times as much information every day as we did in 1986.

No wonder we suffer from anxiety and stress! It's even been estimated that 40 million adults in the U.S. alone are affected by an anxiety disorder.

Today we spent sometime going through our PD archive and pulled out these three resources to help teachers with their professional development. Each of these resources features a number of interesting materials (web tools, educational podcasts and books) that can directly or indirectly enhance your professional learning experience.

Visit Tour Creator and press "Get Started" - as this new service rolls out Tour Creator may not yet be available to all accounts and it may require admin to tun on Poly and Tour Creator - while you are waiting you sign in with your GMail Account. Press "+ New Tour" Give your tour a Title, Description and Cover Image

China is taking its obsession with facial recognition software to a next level by installing cameras in primary schools to monitor children’s attentiveness. Government-run Chinese website Hangzhou reported that a school has installed the cameras above a blackboard in a classroom that will monitor the kids in class.

The educational potential of VR technology in today’s classroom is still for the most part uncharted waters. What seems certain, however, is that this technology promises to open up some of the most exciting horizons in the education of tomorrow. Inroads are being made in certain areas, and one of the most exciting examples to have emerged to date is a VR app that lets school children operate a recycling facility from the comfort of the classroom.

Without curiosity, none of us would learn very much at all. Learning is based more on curiosity than any other human characteristic. Children who are curious are always interested in discovering more. Children who lose their curiosity usually turn off and tune out. Children are naturally curious, but sadly, rigid school systems and curricula have often knocked this out of them by the time they graduate."

“We need to engage our learners. They will only be engaged fully if they can actively participate in their learning. They won’t learn if they are not curious. The responsibility for this lies with the educator.”, I completely agree with this statement from the author, it is true that curiosity is an important aspect when it comes about education, a students that feels curious about an specific topic is more likely to be motivated to study it, so he/she can fully understand what is all that about, Educators need to figure out how to keep students motivated and curious about the topics they need to learn, and as the author mentions, technology can help us a lot.

In response to a request from one of our readers, here is a collection of some of the best iPad apps you can use with your elementary students to introduce and teach them coding and programming. This selection is based on our previous reviews as well as on the popularity of these apps among teachers and educators. You can also check this infographic featuring 12 excellent books designed specifically to help kids in their code learning journey. Links of the apps are under the visual. Enjoy

ong before robots could run or cars could drive themselves, mathematicians contemplated a simple mathematical question. They figured it out, then laid it to rest — with no way of knowing that the object of their mathematical curiosity would feature in machines of the far-off future.

The future is now here. As a result of new work by Amir Ali Ahmadi and Anirudha Majumdar of Princeton University, a classical problem from pure mathematics is poised to provide iron-clad proof that drone aircraft and autonomous cars won’t crash into trees or veer into oncoming traffic.

“Over the past year, there has been a deafening debate over the importance of creating tools to promote responsible technology use. In January, two of Apple’s shareholder groups asked the company to look at the addictive effects of iPhones on children. Google’s recent developer conference highlighted tools to help users better control smartphone usage. For our youngest generations, there’s certainly reason to believe that a focus on managing distractions is just as important as promoting good digital citizenship.

When I speak with middle school and high school students about organization and time management, I often begin with a simple question: How many of you would like an extra seven to 10 hours of free time per week? Nearly all hands go up, and students are quickly excited by the possibility that they could get their work done faster, understand it better, and have more time to spend on other activities, hobbies or even sleep.”

Researchers in neuroscience, psychology and education are uncovering new information about how brains learn best at an unbelievable pace. We have more insight into the brain’s learning processes than at any other moment in history, and we are poised on the brink of a radical shift of how we think about education. Researching the conditions that allow brains to learn most easily enables innovation and optimization for learners in formal and informal settings. There are countless applications for the findings of the new science of learning, including:

Deeper understanding of cognitive deficits and the unique circumstances that affect everyone’s learning capacity. More nuanced information about memory, cognition, and comprehension in various settings. Better understanding of motivation, metacognition, and what drives us to learn at all.

We are incredibly excited about all of the new knowledge being discovered by researchers examining the neurological and psychological underpinnings of learning and education systems, and we can’t wait to see what the future has in store. The organizations, blogs, research labs, and brain-based learning providers below have diverse perspectives and an incredible range of information about the new science of learning, and we think every single one is worth checking out.

If robots are ever going to earn their keep, they'll need to learn on the job. Factory supervisors have better things to do than program complex instructions, so what if they could just show robots what to do, the same way they would a new human worker? AI researchers from Nvidia have now demonstrated a system that lets robots do just that, learning how to perform a specific task by watching someone do it just once.

Now, creating a digital magazine is much easier. With web tools, students can layout their writings, pick from hundreds of cool fonts, and add their own images or choose from a library of stock images. Some web tools allow students to embed video and audio. Below I’ve listed some free educational web tools for creating a class ezine.

Many of us find it difficult to go even a few hours without looking at our smartphone or accessing the internet. Now, a new study has found that addiction to these technologies might cause a chemical imbalance in the brain.

With more than 7 billion videos on YouTube, it can be challenging to curate what's best for your classroom. But amid all of the frivolous, silly, or even obnoxious content, there are gems to be found. On top of this, some truly unique genres and types of videos have sprung from the platform. One of these -- the video essay -- can be a great tool for media-literacy education. Here's why: Video essays model for students how YouTube can be a platform for critical communication.

Summer is almost here and it's a great time to learn a new skill that you can bring into your classroom next fall. One of the skills that seems to be mentioned in almost every education periodical these days is programming or coding. Learning to program isn't as difficult as you might think that is. Each of the following services make it relatively easy to learn to program your own apps. As you learn to program your own app, you'll start to see how your students can do the same and use those skills in your classroom next fall.

Sharing your scoops to your social media accounts is a must to distribute your curated content. Not only will it drive traffic and leads through your content, but it will help show your expertise with your followers.

Integrating your curated content to your website or blog will allow you to increase your website visitors’ engagement, boost SEO and acquire new visitors. By redirecting your social media traffic to your website, Scoop.it will also help you generate more qualified traffic and leads from your curation work.

Distributing your curated content through a newsletter is a great way to nurture and engage your email subscribers will developing your traffic and visibility.
Creating engaging newsletters with your curated content is really easy.